Imbalancer
by Digicowboy
Summary: Sheena receives a warning from Shadow - all hell may be about to break loose, quite literaly, and she has to do something... 'Totally Awesome Filler' chapter NOW UP!
1. Ceremony

A/N: Hey hey, chilluns. This is my first ToS fanfiction, but not my first fanfiction, so you could say I'm spreading out. And you'd be right. So, yeah. I rock. Anyway, it seems to me that this is the sort of place I should be outlining couplings within the story. There may well be Sheena/Lloyd, but so far the only definite coupling is Zelos/ Roughly Six Feet of Topsoil and a Wooden Box. Guess which ending this takes place in. Cackles

Reviews are always appreciated, as is advice, critique, etc, and don't feel you have to hold back if there are bits you don't like. There'll be more than one chapter – something of a novelty for me – But given that it's nearly Chrimbo, please bear with me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Namco, or any of the stuff contained therein, although I have it on reliable information that somewhere in a bin in Namco headquarters is a crudely drawn poster in crayon claiming that 'mE loves you allls!' signed 'DC'

Chapter one: Cultural Attatche from the Dingy Hole

There was a niggling voice at the back of her mind, almost like a doubt givena voice. She could practically feel it brooding over her shoulder. If she turned around, she could swear she'd be able to see it. This would be fine if she didn't know that she probably would, because this was not a doubt of hers, and it was no inner feeling of discontent or subtle wrongness. It was Shadow. She could feel the strangely fractured Summon Spirit looking through her eyes at the world around her, to the extent that she could feel its physical appearance behind her.

They had found the Summon of Darkness in pieces, and even though it had melded back into one whole again, sometimes Sheena Fujibayashi got the impression that the Summon Spirit still wasn't quite right, in the same way that a broken mirror reflects imperfectly.

Someone coughed discreetly in front of her, and Sheena snapped back to reality. Orochi looked at her politely, kneeled on the floor opposite her. She dragged herself back to the matters at hand. The Tea Ceremony. She didn't particularly like Tea, and lacked the patience for the ceremony, but there were customs that had to be observed.

'CEREMONY…CUSTOMS….' came Shadow's hoarse whisper in the back of her brain. Doing her best to ignore it, she lifted the cup carefully, her poise cultured and elegant. There was perhaps an element of tension, though. On her journeys across both worlds with Lloyd and the rest of the team, she had been able to be a lot more relaxed, and a lot more comfortable. Her usual grip would have been deemed inappropriate for the ceremony, where everything had to be just so. Besides, her usual grip would have more than likely broken the delicate china. She suppressed a smile at that thought.

'TENSION…CEREMONY…BREAKING…'

Across from her, Orochi raised his cup coolly, with far more style than she felt she had managed. Between them, a small pot was kept warm on a small, controlled flame. The tea leaves were scare here, and so the Ceremony was reserved for special occasions such as this. Orochi was being assigned as the Information Networks new contact in the recently rebuilt Luin, and it was Sheena's duty to perform the necessary rites to make his position binding and official.

'CEREMONY….BINDING…'

She struggled to keep her face calm and neutral as that voice from the crypt echoed through her body and mind. Shadow had the sort of voice that could make anything sound like a dire warning.

'Go, Orochi, whose name means 'Snake who waits in the grasses, and uphold both the honour and the people of Mizuho.'

'I will go, Sheena, whose name means 'Foundling from the forest', and uphold both the honour and the people of the village of Mizuho.'

Sheena glanced sideways at Chief Igaguri, who nodded faintly and smiled. She breathed a sigh of relief. She must have been doing alright after all.

'You handled yourself well, Sheena. You will make a fine chief.' Igaguri said later, after Orochi had departed and the ceremony was complete. Sheena smiled, and pushed her hand through her coarse black hair.

'Thanks, grandpa.'

'However, you seemed, how should I say this, distracted?' He looked at her shrewdly, a look that she remembered well, full of intelligence and what appeared to be a scarcely suppressed mirth. He sighed.

'Ah, but perhaps it is just me. You have changed so much in my lost twelve years. He glanced down with a vaguely amused look. 'As have I, for that matter. Thank you for bringing me back.'

Sheena looked at him awkwardly, her face slightly flushed.

'It's good to have you back, grandpa. I really missed you. I almost thought you'd never come back to me.' She confessed. Igaguri gave her an affectionate look.

'You've become a fine young lady, Sheena. A chief the people of this village will be able to look up to when I am gone.'

'Grandpa, don't talk like that.' she chided. 'You'll be around for a long time.'

'Will I? Well, I suppose we will see. Go, Sheena. There are things to be done, I'm sure.'

'Yes, Grandpa.'

After she had risen and left, Igaguri stayed silent for a short while, and then he smiled.

'You can come out now, Tiga.'

'There's no fooling you, as ever. Not that I'd expect anything less from the chief.' Tiga said wryly as he removed himself from his place of concealment.

'It's only a wonder Sheena didn't see you there.' remarked the chief. 'She has sharp eyes.'

'I, too, suspect her mind was dwelling on other things. You noticed the way she kept trying to look over her shoulder without moving her head?'

'Of course.'

'Heh.'

'I wonder sometimes if we knew what we were doing.'

'Pardon, chief?'

Igaguri shook his head wearily.

'Sending a seven year old child to pact with Volt. Madness. And yet, I wonder…'

Tiga stayed silent. It was best to let the chief work his way through these thoughts himself.

'I wonder…Would we have done it had she been born a child of Mizuho, instead of a foundling?'

'She is a child of Mizuho.' Tiga said simply.

'I suppose. She wasn't even walking when we found her, was she?' Igaguri mused. 'Still, I can't help but wonder…'

'Who knows? There hasn't been a recorded summoner since the Great War. Not successful ones, anyway.'

'Well, how could there be? Mithos held all the pacts, and even if the vows had been broken, the summon spirits themselves are hardly weak.'

'I suppose not.' Said Tiga, subconsciously fingering the back of his neck, tracing the scar and puckered flesh that was his most constant reminder of the failed pact so long ago. 'And yet she has pacted with them all. I wonder how it feels…' he mused.

Igaguri nodded, and moved the implements of the Tea Ceremony back into their drawer.

'She has been family to me in everything but blood for almost her entire life, Tiga, and I suspect that even I will never know that.'

In the meantime, Sheena had walked swiftly back to her newly built house on the outskirts of the village. It was traditional for the Successor to live with the current chief, to learn and absorb all facets of running the village, but ever since the tragedy with Volt, she had been gently shifted over to the outskirts of the Village. They couldn't, or perhaps wouldn't, banish her, but she had effectively been made an outsider in her own home. Still, she reflected, had that not happened, where would she be today? She wouldn't have dedicated herself to the cards, and she wouldn't have made her way back to the Imperial Research Academy at the tender age of nine, terrified and alone, but with a newfound determination as hard as diamond to master her summoning arts so it would never happen again. She wouldn't have met Corrine. She smiled faintly as she thought of the diminutive man-made summon spirit. Not so diminutive any more, or so man made.

Nor, she reminded herself, would she have been chosen to assassinate Colette, and who knew what would have happened otherwise?

She opened the door to her house, and closed it firmly behind her. Moving rapidly, she changed out of her ceremonial outfit, the garb of the successor, and into her more familiar, more comfortable travelling outfit. The ends of the ribbon pooled on the floor as she sat down gracefully in the middle of the room. She closed her eyes, and concentrated. She knew better than anyone alive that the words were a formality, a mark of respect for the pact, but if Shadow was going to ignore the formalities, so was she. There was a disruption in the air, and the room grew imperceptibly darker as the envoy from the dark abyss heeded her call. She opened her eyes.

'Alright.' She said firmly. 'What is it?' The intimidating figure looked down at her impassively, and she felt herself grow frustrated. 'What is it, Shadow? You've been looking over my shoulder all morning, and-'

'PACTMAKER…' the summon spirit whispered; his voice the dry rustle of a dying man's last breath. Sheena remained quiet.

'IMBALANCE…' It said, cryptically. No pun intended, Sheena though wryly. She remained silent for almost a minute, but there didn't seem to be any more coming.

'You're going to have to be more specific, Shadow. Imbalance in what?'

'UNDERWORLD…'

That got her attention. She sat rigid, her mind cart wheeling back through the past. The collection of the Devil's Arms, those cursed weapons, Abyssion's betrayal, the Necronomicon and the rebirth of the Dark Lord Nebilim. The book they had destroyed in the Sybak library. This would not be good.

'Show me.' she commanded. Shadow raised one hand, palm upwards, and the light in the room deepened to an even darker purple as the Envoy focused Mana around itself. By degrees of darkness, a picture appeared in the air above the spirit's palm, and the young Summoner looked on.

(A/N: Successfully prepared first chapter! My thanks to Thunder "So, Pietro, Diamonds"Strike, who's review helped me make the corrections I missed the first time around)


	2. Filler 1 Don't Marry Her, Censored Me

Imbalancer- Chapter 1.5

AN: Here's the Dillyo, people. I write pretty much all my fanfics on my trusty laptop, which in a moment of excessive geekiness I affectionately dubbed Omoikane, of Martian Successor Nadesico fame. However, I'm currently at my folks house for Christmas, the new chapter is pretty well done and ready to go, but guess what? I forgot to bring my laptop's Floppy disc drive, and my connection is back in my student house. This is immensely frustrating for me, so to tide you over until I get back in a few days, here's a short skit that's getting written as I think of the blasted thing. This is the creative stream in full, unfiltered flow, people. :P Thunderstrike has said he wants to write a skit as well with its origin in a discussion we all had about a certain sidequest, so look out for that. Should be most l33t.

Chapter One-Point-Five 'Don't Marry Her, Censored Me'

It was snowing in Flanoir. Anywhere else, this would have indicated winter, or an unseasonable cold snap at the very most. In Flanoir, however, such an extreme of weather was so typical that if it didn't snow during the day, many of the citizens would run shrieking into their houses, declaring that the end times were upon them.

'Why do you think that is?' Lloyd asked with an idle curiosity as the snowy town drifted into view below them, high up upon the Rheiards. Genis gave his friend a knowing grin.

'Lloyd! It's obvious!'

'Huh?'

'Think about it. Flanoir is set in the middle of a barren, snow driven tundra that can only be approached by air, the entire island being surrounded by large, pointless and ominous rocks. The only technology capable of flight in the entire world is the Rheiards, which only we and the Renegades have, and they aren't sharing.'

'Your point?'

'They've been cut off from the mainland for maybe centuries! They're as inbred as eighteenth generation hillbillies.'

'Good point! I suddenly realise my immense attraction to you! Take me Genis, take me now.'

Genis considered for a moment, carefully weighing up the pros and cons.

'Deal'

Collette frowned, her supernaturally adept senses perhaps picking up a faint cry on the wind. In fact, there was no 'perhaps' about it. Her supernaturally adept senses WERE picking up a faint cry on the wind. Raine glanced over at her questioningly.

'Do you hear something Collette?'

'Yeah…It kinda sounded like a million fangirls suddenly cried out 'OMG! SLASH!' and were suddenly silenced…'

Raine looked sharply at Kratos, who feigned a look of injured innocence.

'I had nothing to do with it, even if they did have it coming. In all honesty, you can see my point.'

'Oh, I suppose so. I'll let you off this time.'

'But I didn't do anything!'

'Oh, really? How do I know this isn't part of some elaborate and far reaching scheme to topple the establishment and play everyone for suckers?'

'…I suppose you don't.'

'Ah-HAH!'

'But what could I possibly gain from the sudden and total annihilation of a million slash fans?'

'Deep, deep satisfaction?'

'…Aside from the deep, deep satisfaction and the knowledge that it's far less likely that I'll be paired with Zelos, Yuan, Genis or Lloyd?'

'Do you need another reason? I don't suppose I would.'

'…There you have a point. Is there any way I can come out of this looking innocent?'

'No, but to be fair I don't especially care, so you're free to go.'

'I was going somewhere?'

'I should hope so, otherwise you're going to have a nasty surprise when you look down and realise you've been on a Rheiard for the last half hour.'

'….Oh.'

Short and crappy! It must be Christmas! If this happens again, I swear to god it'll be better, because it's hard to believe it could be any worse….

Drunk on Christmas Cheer and Christmas Ale, Mostly Christmas Ale.

Peace Out,

DC


	3. The Legend of Niflheim

Imbalancer :C2

AN: Hey guys and gals. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, I really appreciate it. Mad props to Thunderstrike, who pointed out some of the stuff I missed, and then modded the first chapter accordingly. Some men call him Thunderstrike, I call him 'Dave'. He's told me he's going to have some filler for this story for me, so look forward to that, I just know it'll be good. Why do I need filler? Failsafe, my friends, failsafe. I have a notoriously poor record at finishing stories, and while I will try my best with this one, I'd rather not keep you too long before instalments whilst I try and finetune the next chapter. But yeah, thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Performs an interpretive dance depicting how he doesn't own the copyright to Tales of Symphonia, and how this saddens him. Laugh, cry, life changed, next.

Chapter Two: The Legend of Niblheim

Somewhere out in the sea Lloyd Irving, wielder of the Eternal Sword, leaned idly forwards, arms crossed and elbows resting on the starboard railing of the small vessel. Not too far over the horizon, he calculated, he would find the recently repaired port of Palmacosta, where he planned to take on supplies and try to get a little light work to get him by. He still had a lot of Gald left over from their epic quest to defeat Mithos, of course, but Lloyd wasn't the sort of person who could simply lie back and relax in the lap of luxury without going mad. He looked over his shoulder at the small forge in the back of the boat. He'd kept it in good repair, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a brief once-over when he pulled in to port. His gaze proceeded to wonder fondly over the small boat that was his home, place of work and means of transport all rolled into one. The _Anna Aurion_, as he had eventually decided to name it, in commemoration of the mother he could hardly remember. He felt he owed her that much at the very least. Her timbers were stout and well cared for, and the small cabin was cosy if a trifle cramped, but it was his home almost as much as any place had ever been and far comfier than the EC had been.

Of course, the EC was unusable to him now that he and Sheena had gone their separate ways, taking the power of Undine with her. His thoughts turned to the dark haired Summoner, and he wondered how she'd been doing in her training to be Chief of Mizuho. They really didn't meet up enough these days, he mused.

At that thought, something, perhaps some near instinctive battle reflex, prompted him to turn his head again to gaze out to sea. He narrowed his eyes. Out there, at the threshold of vision, was there something there? There was. A speck, a blur, moving towards him at an incredible rate, fast enough to split the waves in a broad wake behind it. He tensed, and his hand strayed down to the hilt of one of the swords at his waist. In just a few short seconds it had nearly halved the distance between them and was coming ever closer. The size of the thing seemed to waver from moment to moment, and Lloyd tried his best to concentrate to see if he could actually determine the size of the creature that was bearing down on him at reckless speeds.

With a jolt, he realised. The creature was a figure wearing a familiar blend of purples, pinks and dark colour, with an instantly recognizable mess of black hair whipping in the wind. The speed of her movement and the colouring of her clothes explained why her size had seemed to waver – the colours were, in places, too close to the colours of the water, all alight with the glow of the moon. He just had enough time to smile and untense his body before Sheena, her feet skimming just above the waves, launched herself into the air, grabbed the guard rail of his boat, using the beam as an acrobat would, turning her forward speed into upward movement as she swung further into the air, before landing gracefully on deck in a deep crouch, dissipating the rest of her excess momentum. Lloyd was sorely tempted to break into applause, and therefore did so, for he was a creature of instinct.

Sheena flushed awkwardly at the praise as Lloyd, grinning from ear to ear, whooping and whistling. Her melodramatic streak came to her rescue, and as she rose to her feet she turned the motion into an extravagant bow.

'Thanks, Undine' she called to the water, straightening up.

'It was not a chore, Pact-Maker.' the water spirit said simply, and Sheena thought she saw her smile faintly, although it may simply have been a trick of the light. 'In truth, it feels good to let myself go in such a fashion every once in a while.' Undine said shyly as she disappeared slowly from view. Sheena blinked and turned back to Lloyd, rubbing the nape of her neck, embarrassed and her current problems currently forgotten.

'Hi, Lloyd.'

'Hey, Sheena! What brings you here? To my boat? In the middle of the ocean?' he said, sounding faintly amused.

'Oh. Yeah. Uhhh….'

'Is something wrong?' he asked, some of the sparkle fading from his expression. Sheena took a deep breath.

'You could say that.'

'Give me a minute. I'll drop the sea anchor, and then we can talk about it inside.'

It was some minutes later that Lloyd sat down, and handed Sheena a ceramic mug filled with a hot, sweet liquid. She sniffed it curiously.

'What is it?'

Lloyd grinned. 'Hot Chocolate. It's something they drink down in Flanoir, but I think the beans come from down by Altimira.' he nodded encouragingly at the mug. 'Try it. It's really good.'

'If you say so.' Sheena said sceptically, and took a cautious sip. She cursed in an unladylike manner, coughing and sputtering and trying to fan her mouth in a way that may have been comical had it been happening to anyone else. Lloyd looked embarrassed.

'I heated it on the top of the forge, so it may be too hot right now…Sorry, forgot to mention.' He set his own cup down next to the ceramic bowl which held the rest of the scalding drink. 'I'll get you some water.'

Sheena waved a hand at him desperately.

'No, no, it's fine! I just scalded my mouth a bit, that's all!' Actually, it felt as if she'd scoured every taste-bud off her tongue, but when it came to talking with other people, especially Lloyd, she had an annoying tendency to underplay anything that befell her.

'Well…Go on, then. What's happening?'

Sheena closed her eyes. She didn't want to tell him. Come to that, she wished she didn't know it, either. 'There are problems in Niflheim.'

'Niflheim? I don't think I've ever been to – wait a minute. The Netherworld?'

'Yeah. Shadow told me about it last afternoon, and I've been looking for you ever since…You remember Abyssion?'

Lloyd shuddered.

'How could I forget?'

'Amen to that. Well, apparently, when we destroyed both him and the Necronomicon, we finally put the Dark Lord, Nebilim, to rest. Beforehand, he'd been trapped in Niflheim, fighting for supremacy with the, uh, 'locals'.'

'So…how does Shadow know all this?' Lloyd interjected. Sheena looked surprised, but recovered quickly.

'Oh, that's right. You wouldn't have known. Well, there's an ancient legend in Tethe'Alla that…Well, basically, it says that once upon a time, demons tried to invade the world and drag everyone down to hell, aided by the greedy sorcerer, Nebilim. The great Summoner Raphael, and his true love Elisa fought the demons tirelessly, aided by the Summon Spirits Gnome, Volt, Celsius, as well as Origin and Maxwell. It's even said the Gods themselves aided them. Anyway, in the end, they were victorious, and they banished the demons back to hell, along with Nebilim. But Raphael and Elisa were dragged down with him. To make sure their sacrifice would not have been in vain, and to keep such a tragedy from ever happening again, the Summon Spirits and the Angels of Martel-' Sheena winced '-bent their will upon the earth. Gnome dug deep into the earth, and Celsius poured her mana into crystals of icy beauty. Origin filled them with holy light that would be harmful to the demons, should they ever rise again, and Maxwell created the temple of Darkness out of insubstantial air. Then the Angels created Shadow to be the Summon Spirit of Darkness, to keep watch over the Hells and reinforce the barriers.'

'So…We weren't the only ones to make pacts with the summon spirits…' mused Lloyd, and a grin temporarily stretched across his face. 'Cool!'

She took a breath, and risked another sip from her mug. It was cool enough to drink now. She nodded appreciatively at Lloyd.

'You're right. It's nice. Anyway, that's how the legend goes. Of course, we know it can't be true now, but it seems there may be elements of truth in it. Shadow said that since we thwarted the return of Nebilim and closed his door behind him by destroying the Necronomicon, and defeated the Living Armour, the power balance in Niflheim has been greatly disrupted. Normally, the denizens of Niflheim contest with each other for glory and dominion, but this time, they seem to be rallying behind one, and the barrier is weakening in the temple of Darkness. Shadow insists that I have to do something. The Pact goes both ways like that in times of need.' She paused. 'And I need help.'

'Do you need the Eternal sword?' asked Lloyd.

'Yes. But that isn't all.' She admitted. Lloyd was about to ask what she meant when, with great reluctance, her hand moved to a small pouch at her waist, tightly bound and sealed with what he recognised as a Mizuho charm to protect against evil. Since this was Sheena, it was probably more effective than normal. An intense silence washed over the boat as her nimble fingers undid the sturdy knot that held the top firmly in place. When it opened she dipped her hand in and retrieved an all-too familiar deck of angular cards, each displaying a picture of a large evil-looking bird perched on a large gothic arch.. As they watched, the sky behind the bird flickered and raged, forever trapped in a moment of hellish chaos. The bird moved across the paper, ruffling its feathers and looking out with eyes that glowed a wicked, roving red. The Gates of Hell. Lloyd looked at Sheena, an unspoken question in his eyes.

'We need the Devil's Arms.' Sheena said sadly.

AN: Well, there you go! The proper second chapter! Sorry again for chapter 1.5, but there was no way I could update with this chapter, which was immensely frustrating to me, as you can imagine. Anyway, review or whatever, and thank you for reading! Hopefully I'll have the next one ready for you soon. Fingers crossed, eh?

This chapter Beta-Read by Thunderstrike! Curse him and his hatred of the common comma! Shakes fist

Peace Out, DC


	4. Plot Exposition

Imbalancer C3

AN: Wow, chapter three. Being at home must really get my creational juices flowing. Insofar as inspiration can be counted as a liquid, which to be fair, isn't very far. Anyway, I'm writing this before chapter two is up, so I hope you enjoyed that one. And now onto the third, uh, bit.

Disclaimer: I own many things. The sun, for instance. That was mine, but I didn't get the idea to the patent office at the time, largely because there were no patent offices, or even patent clerks, so it's quite likely that I'll not see a penny for inventing the sun. However, even if I do own many things, I don't own the rights to Tales of Symphonia.

Chapter Three

Lloyd had levered up some of his floorboards, and Sheena realised that there was a small compartment in the floor, something like the smuggling cabinets the Mizuho intelligence network sometimes used. As she watched, he lay down flat on the remaining floor space, and reached in. With a slight grunt of effort, he pulled out a small crate. She could faintly hear a rhythmic thudding and slithering from the inside. Lloyd grimaced.

'I hoped I'd never have to set eyes on these again.' He said quietly. He shrugged and smiled faintly at Sheena, showing her a glimmer of his usual exuberance and carefree spirit.

'Oh well.' He muttered, and grabbed the crowbar he had used to pull up the decking, and effortlessly pulled open the top of the crate, the nails offering scant resistance to his immense Exsphere-granted strength. To Sheena's surprise, the crate was stuffed with hay, unrefined wool, and old, threadbare clothes. She looked at him curiously.

'I thought that these would muffle the noise, but it only sort of worked. I can still hear it sometimes.' He said, almost as if he was apologising to her. He reached in to the crate, clearing packing out of his way as he searched. The muscle of his shoulders tightened as his hands made contact with a hilt and slowly, with great reluctance, he pulled out the Nebilim blades. One was a gruesome parody of a human spine, the blade made of interlocked bone and cartilage, a tiny, fanged mouth working soundlessly on the guard, bony teeth gnashing at the air. The other was a tentacle of purple sinew and muscle, forever swaying and searching in invertebrate slithering. A small green stone was set in the guard, a grotesque parody of an eye. A shiver shot up Sheena's back, as it normally did when she looked upon the Nebilim blades. They gave of a sense of malice and it took a truly incautious or uncaring individual to look upon them without revulsion, and Sheena was neither incautious nor uncaring.

'So, why do we need these…things?' Lloyd asked, packing the Devil's Arms securely into a roll of tough leather and twisting it firmly shut with wire. Sheena bent down to the pack, busying her hands and eyes with the business of fixing each end with the potent Mizuho charm that restrained her own.

'Well…as far as I get it, the Devil's Arms are the locks on the seal of Niflheim. Or keys, I'm not really sure. You know what Shadow can be like.'

'Yeah.'

'Anyway, the Devil's Arms were created to keep the door from being opened by accident on this side, or forced open from…the other side.' Sheena stood up, satisfied with her work. The Nebilim blades had stopped moving, from what she could tell.

'So they get taken away and hidden and even if they were found, mostly people couldn't get to them, and it's not like anyone knew what they were for anyway, right? But that all messed up when Abyssion found the Necronomicon, a book that Nebilim's meant to have written himself. It was sort of like a failsafe in case his plans went bad and he got banished into Niflheim, which he did. It told Abyssion where the lock was, what he needed to say, and what the locks were. But because he got tainted by the contact with the forbidden book, he couldn't touch them himself. He didn't have the power to make the keys obey him. But he wasn't weak. He broke into the Shadow Temple and smashed Shadow into pieces, and then he tried to force the door with just the words. But it didn't work, because that's how the Devil's Arms work. When they gate is locked, they just have to be, and they'll be strong. But when someone from either side tries to force the gate, they divert their energy into reinforcing the seal. In the end, he tricked us into getting the Devil's Arms for him. He couldn't open the door properly and unleash Niflheim, but he could force it open enough to let Nebilim back into the world through his body. This made the Devil's Arms so weak that he managed to control them. If we'd lost, he'd have probably unleashed Niflheim again. But we won, and because we burned the Necronomicon his spirit couldn't get back into Niflheim, and the Dark Lord died once and for all, along with Abyssion. Then the seal slammed shut again, and the Devil's Arms began to get stronger again as their power returned.' Sheena continued as she packed up the Gates of Hell and her needle and thread, with which she had bound Lloyd's. He looked as if he was struggling to take all of this in, but indicated that she should continue and so she sat down.

'Anyway, the problem is…his escape attracted the attention of the demons of Niflheim. Now they know it's possible to force the seal, and they're gathering as one force, which they've never done before. Normally, the tribes fight for dominion over all of Niflheim and stuff, or who the King of Niflheim is, so they were never strong enough or organised enough to do any real damage. Now they probably are, so...' Sheena took a deep breath and paused, looking at the floor, uncertain as of how to continue. '…I have to go into Niflheim and try to stop them. I don't expect you to go with me.' She said quickly. 'It's just, I need to get the Summon Spirits in. They can't get in there by themselves because it's not part of this dimension, but if I go in, they can enter through my body.'

Lloyd was giving her a really strange look.

'Do you really think I'm going to let you go in alone?' he said, obviously bewildered. 'That's kind of insulting.' he said, making a face.

'Sorry.' she said apologetically 'that wasn't how I meant it.'

'Yeah, I know. But, still…' she lapsed into silence, trying to put what she wanted to say into words that would fit. 'It's going to be really dangerous. Even if I succeed I … I probably won't be coming out again, thanks to the seal. I don't want to put anyone else in danger…' _Least of all you_, she thought to herself, glancing slightly at Lloyd, who caught her eye and grinned wholeheartedly, offering her his hand.

'What's a little mortal peril between friends?'

She caught the full force of that smile and all the trust it conveyed right in her heart, and smiled despite herself. Maybe he was right. Maybe there wasn't anything they couldn't do together. Or maybe his optimism was simply infectious.

'We'll see.' she promised. 'So what's next?'

'Well, I need to call into Palmacosta and resupply, so either we go there and then move on from there, or stop there for a while and try and figure out who to get first. Or I guess we can restock on the way.What do you think, Sheena?' he asked earnestly. She considered carefully.

'I think we should move on as fast as we can. We don't know how much time we have…'

'I guess not…Well, from here Colette would be the easiest person to collect first.'

'Yeah.' Sheena agreed. For some reason, she wasn't entirely happy with the idea of Colette joining them so early. Perhaps it was because she was her closest rival in regards to Lloyd. That thought brought her up short. Did she really think that way about Colette?

No, she resolved, it would be good to see the blonde-haired Chosen again.

Yeah. Good. It'll be fine. Yeah.

For that matter, what had she meant by 'rival for Lloyd'? She forced down the treacherous thought, back to the depths from whence it had come. She didn't think about Lloyd like _that_, either.

She realised with a start that Lloyd was looking at her. She must have started drifting off into a reverie.

'Are you OK, Sheena? You looked kinda distant there, and… Was one of the Summon Spirits talking to you or something?'

'Uh…yeah.'

'So what did they say?' he asked in a mildly curious fashion.

'Uh…That…we shouldn't…waste time?' Sheena faltered. _Come on! You're training to be the head of a clan with a huge network of informants and spies, and that's the best you can come up with?_ She thought, berating herself. Thankfully, Lloyd didn't seem to notice anything amiss in her statement and nodded amiably.

'Yeah. Well, we should probably rest now, we can start travelling to Iselia in the morning. We should get there by mid afternoon, since it isn't too far.' He grinned unashamedly, and looked fondly around the cabin of the tug-like _Anna Aurion_.

'She isn't as fast as the Rheiards or even the EC, but I'm still fond of her. Anyway, let's get some sleep.'

Sheena's blood seemed to turn to ice. Looking around the cabin, she could only see one bed. One bed, two people. Unbidden, a blush rose to her cheeks as she looked to the floor.

'So…how are we going to do this?' she asked, forcing herself to look up at Lloyd. He grinned at her, and crossed over to the bed. With a flourish, he tugged at some partially concealed catches her eyes had missed before. There was a wooden thunk, and another frame dropped down from the wall. From under the main bed, Lloyd pulled a bundle of thick covers, sheets, and pillows, and laid them on the bed with an extravagant flourish.

'Ta-da!' he said, grinning at her from ear to ear. 'I made it myself! What do you think?'

Sheena was impressed, to say the least.

'Wow, Lloyd! I didn't know you did woodwork as well!'

'Well, I kinda dabble…' he said, smiling happily. 'You want me to take the top one?'

'Nah.' Sheena dismissed that idea with a flick of her hand. 'It's your boat, I'll take the top one. When have we ever stood on ceremony, anyway?'

'_**CEREMONY….'**_

'Shadow, this isn't the time.'

-------------------------------------------------------

AN: Oh, that wacky Shadow. Thanks again to Thunderstrike for Beta-reading this piece, and hopefully I'll see you next chapter, where we start gathering our heroes. And if all goes to plan, there'll be a DIRE OMEN OF THINGS TO COME! Or Zelos rising as a zombie and getting smacked with a shovel by a comical gravedigger, whatever works.

Peace out,

DC


	5. Filler 2 Diamond Pietro, part one

AN: Hey hey, guys and gals! The next chapter might be a bit late, thanks to my aqquisition of Metroid Prime 2 : Echoes, and my agressive policies towards Metroids, Space Pirates, and anything called the 'Ing'. So my mate Thunder 'Dave' Strike has agreed to step in and help both you and I out with some totally awesome filler. He could easily put this up under his account, but he's very nice to me. He says there could well be about three parts to this in total, so yay! Please review it, becasue I'm certain he'd like to know what you all think of it. Anyway.

Disclaimer: Thunderstrike the Dave does not own Tales of Symphonia, any of the conceptual material, etc. However, he does have a tendency to grab the Heavy Turret in multiplayer Metroid and laugh somewhat nastily as he hurls huge balls of evil green death at us. Tsk Tsk. :p

Totally Awesome Filler, Dude, Thunderstrike you Rock Chapter : Diamond Pietro (1)

"It's all here, all hundred thousand of it." Raine said as she shuffled back from the huge pile of coins that reflected the light from the campfire like a hundred thousand miniature suns. She sat down on one of the logs circling the fire.

"Think of how much research this could fund." She sighed, drawing her knees in close and resting her elbows on them.

"Gee sis, do we really have to give all of this Gald to Pietro?"

"Yes we do Genis, it's the last instalment the people of Luin need to complete the restoration of the City. It's the right thing to do, and we did promise Pietro."

"I know that, but it just seems it's a bit… much! What's he rebuilding the city with, diamonds?"

A third figure stepped out of the darkness and into the circle.

"Genis has a point y'know Raine. A hundred thousand, on top of what we've already paid?"

"Sheena, welcome back! You think so too?"

She joined the half-elf siblings on the logs.

"I'm not saying it's not the right think to do, but for the amount we've given to Pietro…"

"Thee hundred and forty three thousand five hundred Gald." Raine reeled off automatically.

"You scare me, you know that? Well, for what we've handed over to him, we have seen fairly little restoration going on. I made some enquiries with the Mizuho information network, and the shipments going into Luin are… a little concerning."

"How so?"

"Well, while there are shipments of building materials, there aren't nearly enough of them. And it's the other shipments that concern me really."

"What are they?" Genis chipped in.

"Take a look for yourself."

Sheena leant forwards and threw a piece of paper over to them. They studied the manifest intently, all the while furrows appearing in their brows. Genis spoke first.

"I told you so!"

"Diamonds? How could he need this many diamonds?" added his sister.

"Why would he need diamonds at all is what I want to know."

Sheena crossed her arms.

"That's something we really need to find out before handing over all this money. Where are the others?"

"Colette got kidnapped a while back and we haven't got round to rescuing her yet, and Regal and Presea are in Altimira visiting Alicia's grave."

"Oh, what about Lloyd and Kratos?"

Genis squinted off into the distance as he chipped in.

"Kratos told Lloyd he needed more training. They went that way… whoa!"

Something akin to a sonic boom struck the campsite, with a red blur at the center. The three of them were knocked backwards off their respective logs by the air displaced in the object's passing. The flame from the fire was dragged horizontal by the wake and nearly went out before resuming its prior vertical status.

Sheena with her ninja training was first to recover, even if it did amount to;

"Uhhh, w'happen'?"

The object came to a halt about a hundred meters away after carving a swathe into the soft earth. It kicked its legs out and sat up groggily. Lloyd Irving spat out grass and spoke, mainly to reassure himself that he still could. Father or no, Kratos didn't pull his punches and that last one had been a doozy.

"Uhhh, w'happen'?"

Kratos landed beside him, and dropped at his side Lloyd's wooden swords he had been using to train.

"You are holding back."

Lloyd picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"I thought we were just training…"

"I'm not training you to hold back."

Shaking his head clear, Lloyd picked up his wooden swords. For a four thousand year old being, his father's people skills were lacking. His jaw hurt like hell, and he was fed up of Kratos's attitude. He'd beaten him before at the Origin seal, and he would do it again. Time to school him. He held the swords out straight out in front of him, and dropped them. Reaching for his scabbards he pulled out the real steel in one smooth motion.

"Fine then. Bring it on!"

"As you wish."

Kratos moved so fast that even Colette would have had trouble registering it. In one movement he had drawn his own sword and brought down at Lloyd in an overheard arc. But Lloyd did see it; he crossed his blades in front of him and caught the downswing in the crux. The jolt of the impact shot through his arms like fire and he moved his left leg back to steady himself. Before Kratos could pull his sword away Lloyd pushed forward and to the left, and spun a full circle on his right heel curling his left leg round and connecting his foot squarely with Kratos's ribs. He let out the barest grunt but gave no ground. Instead he used the momentum of Lloyds kick to spin in turn, putting all the centrifugal force into his sword as he swung it in a horizontal arc. But the time taken to spin gave Lloyd a split second to throw himself backwards, the blade missing his chest by inches. He had swung his arms out to the side, and Kratos capitalized, dashing forward and landing a single open palmed blow on Lloyd's unprotected chest. The force of the blow sent it's recipient skidding backwards, but he kept his footing and dug his feet in to stop his motion.

The ground around Kratos's feet began to glow red as he raised a hand to his forehead in preparation to cast. Lloyd caught his gaze for a second and then burst into a sprint, trying to charge him down, but there wasn't time to cover the distance and break the cast. Kratos extended his arm, palm facing outwards and wreathed in flame.

"Fireball!"

The first of three said fireballs tore from his hand directly towards Lloyd. As it reached him, Lloyd swung his left sword, slashing across the projectiles path and causing it to expend its energy prematurely. He burst through the cloud of smoke and fire and kept running as the second fireball closed the distance between them. Lloyd attempted another slash, but he was going at a full sprint and judged the timing badly. Instead of exploding the fireball was drawn down the length of the blade and slammed into his shoulder. The heat seared his face and arm, his shoulder went numb and he nearly dropped his sword, but before Kratos let fly the final blast he lunged forward, covering the remaining distance in two steps, and swinging the other sword with his good arm at the last fireball forming in front of Kratos's hand.

"Ooooh, pretty" was all the still dazed Raine could matter as the night sky was illuminated by the blast. Sheena crawled over to where she was lying, not because she couldn't stand up but rather she wasn't sure it would be safe to yet. Helping Raine up to a sitting position, she sat down next to her with her back against a log.

"How much more of this can we look forward to?"

Raine shook her head, clearing the cobwebs.

"Given their history, or perhaps lack of it, I'd say the still have some issues they need to work through."

"Heh, I guess this is what passes for father-son bonding these days."

"Well, I suppose we had better…"

She looked around, flustered.

"Genis? Genis!! Where are you?"

They scanned the area and were about to stand up and make a real search of it as a small hand popped up from behind another log and waved in their general direction.

"Oh, thank goodness. Are you alright?"

The waved became a thumbs-up, and then apathetically slumped back behind the log. Raine and Sheena leaned back again, watching the glow in the distance fade. After a few moments the clashing of steel on steel began again. The younger of the two women spoke.

"It's going to be a long night."


End file.
